IP Library › Granted Patent US 10,699,964
Granted Patent B2
US 10,699,964 · App. 16/205,419 · Granted Jun 30, 2020

Silicon and silicon germanium nanowire formation

Inventors: Kuo-Cheng Ching (Zhubei, TW); Carlos H. Diaz (Mountain View, CA); Jean-Pierre Colinge (Hsinchu, TW)
Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited
H01L21/823821B82Y10/00B82Y40/00H01L21/823807H01L27/092H01L27/0924H01L29/0673H01L29/16H01L29/42392H01L29/66439H01L29/775H01L29/78H01L29/7853H01L29/78696H01L29/6681
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 10,699,964
App. No.
16/205,419
Granted
Jun 30, 2020
Kind
B2
Abstract

Among other things, one or semiconductor arrangements, and techniques for forming such semiconductor arrangements are provided. For example, one or more silicon and silicon germanium stacks are utilized to form PMOS transistors comprising germanium nanowire channels and NMOS transistors comprising silicon nanowire channels. In an example, a first silicon and silicon germanium stack is oxidized to transform silicon to silicon oxide regions, which are removed to form germanium nanowire channels for PMOS transistors. In another example, silicon and germanium layers within a second silicon and silicon germanium stack are removed to form silicon nanowire channels for NMOS transistors. PMOS transistors having germanium nanowire channels and NMOS transistors having silicon nanowire channels are formed as part of a single fabrication process.

Claims (60)

1. A semiconductor arrangement, comprising:

a first nanowire transistor comprising:

a first nanowire channel formed between a first source region and a first drain region;

a second nanowire channel formed between the first source region and the first drain region;

a first dielectric layer at least partially surrounding the first nanowire channel and the second nanowire channel; and

a gate electrode at least partially surrounding the first nanowire channel, the second nanowire channel, and the first dielectric layer, wherein a space between the first nanowire channel and the second nanowire channel is void of the gate electrode; and

a second nanowire transistor comprising a third nanowire channel, wherein:

a substrate underlies the first nanowire transistor and the second nanowire transistor, and

a distance between a surface of the substrate and a bottom surface of the first nanowire channel is different than a distance between the surface of the substrate and a bottom surface of the third nanowire channel.

2. The semiconductor arrangement of claim 1 , comprising:

an interfacial layer at least partially surrounding the first nanowire channel and the second nanowire channel.

3. The semiconductor arrangement of claim 1 , wherein the first nanowire channel comprises a different material composition than the third nanowire channel.

4. The semiconductor arrangement of claim 1 , wherein the first nanowire channel comprises germanium and the third nanowire channel comprises silicon.

5. The semiconductor arrangement of claim 1 , wherein a diameter of the first nanowire channel is different than a diameter of the third nanowire channel.

6. The semiconductor arrangement of claim 1 , wherein the first dielectric layer surrounds less than all of an outer boundary of the first nanowire channel.

7. A method for forming a semiconductor arrangement, comprising:

forming a first nanowire transistor, comprising:

forming a first nanowire channel between a first source region and a first drain region;

forming a second nanowire channel between the first source region and the first drain region; and

forming an interfacial layer at least partially surrounding the first nanowire channel and the second nanowire channel, wherein the interfacial layer pinches off a space between the first nanowire channel and the second nanowire channel; and

forming a second nanowire transistor, wherein:

the first nanowire transistor is a p-type nanowire transistor or an n-type nanowire transistor,

the second nanowire transistor is the other of the p-type nanowire transistor or the n-type nanowire transistor,

forming the first nanowire transistor comprises forming a first stack comprising a first layer having a first composition and a second layer having a second composition, and

forming the second nanowire transistor comprises forming a second stack comprising a third layer having the first composition and a fourth layer having the second composition.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein forming the first nanowire channel comprises:

applying oxygen to the first stack to transform the first layer into an oxidized first layer; and

removing the oxidized first layer, wherein at least a portion of the second layer forms the first nanowire channel.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein:

the second layer comprises germanium, and

applying the oxygen to the first stack comprises pushing the germanium inwardly to concentrate the germanium in a center region of the second layer.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein forming the first nanowire channel comprises:

removing the second layer; and

annealing the first layer to transform the first layer into the first nanowire channel.

11. The method of claim 7 , comprising:

forming a dielectric layer at least partially surrounding the interfacial layer; and

forming a gate electrode at least partially surrounding the dielectric layer.

12. The method of claim 7 , wherein:

forming the first nanowire channel comprises:

removing the second layer; and

forming the first nanowire channel from the first layer after removing the second layer, and

forming the second nanowire transistor comprises:

removing the third layer, and

forming a third nanowire channel from the fourth layer after removing the third layer.

13. The method of claim 7 , wherein the first composition comprises germanium and the second composition does not comprise germanium.

14. A method for forming a semiconductor arrangement, comprising:

forming a first stack comprising a first layer having a first composition and a second layer having a second composition over the first layer, a third layer having the first composition over the second layer, and a fourth layer having the second composition over the third layer;

applying oxygen to the first stack to transform the first layer into an oxidized first layer and the third layer into an oxidized third layer;

etching the first stack to remove the oxidized first layer and the oxidized third layer, wherein at least a portion of the second layer forms a first nanowire channel and at least a portion of the fourth layer forms a second nanowire channel;

forming an interfacial layer on the first nanowire channel and the second nanowire channel, wherein the interfacial layer pinches off a space between the first nanowire channel and the second nanowire channel;

forming a gate dielectric layer on the interfacial layer; and

forming a first gate structure at least partially surrounding the gate dielectric.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein:

the second layer comprises germanium, and

applying the oxygen to the first stack comprises pushing the germanium inwardly to concentrate the germanium in a center region of the second layer.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein etching the first stack comprises etching the first stack to remove a peripheral region of the second layer and expose the center region of the second layer.

17. The method of claim 14 , wherein forming the first gate structure comprises forming a gate electrode to surround less than all of an outer boundary of the first nanowire channel.

18. The method of claim 14 , wherein the first gate structure extends between the first nanowire channel and an underlying substrate.

19. The semiconductor arrangement of claim 2 , wherein the interfacial layer extends continuously from the first nanowire channel to the second nanowire channel.

20. The method of claim 7 , wherein the first nanowire channel and the second nanowire channel are above a fin extending from a substrate.

Continuity (5)
Continuation 15924350 · Mar 19, 2018
Continuation 15463326 · Mar 20, 2017
Continuation 14929504 · Nov 2, 2015
Division 13971239 · Aug 20, 2013
Related Publication 20190103322A1 · Apr 4, 2019